


Keeping Company with a Stranger

by velvet_sometimes



Series: Keeping Company [1]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Courtship, Drabble Collection, F/M, Humor, Romance, Tricksters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-27
Updated: 2012-04-26
Packaged: 2017-11-04 09:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/392380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvet_sometimes/pseuds/velvet_sometimes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a chance encounter in which Kagome accidentally sends the wrong signals, she's now got a mysterious, infuriating man sniffing around her… A story of hot-pink sunglasses and meanings getting lost in translation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A thank you to The Hatter Theory, who made me write it, Lyra who helped me name it, Cadeyrn Lux who helped me write a summery for it, and I Agree who cheered me on the entire time.

**Tropic**

Kagome was having a decidedly wonderful day as she made her way through the park, trying to find the perfect sunny spot to eat her lunch. It wasn't often she got to take a lunch break, what with the shrine needing so much work. She usually took a bit or two of her bento in between whatever tasks needed to be done that day, so she was thrilled when Grandpa told her to actually take a break.

Which was perfect timing, since during the spring the trek though the forested area behind the shrine was so worth it to come out and sit in the sun; not too cold as to require her to bundle up, nor was it tropical heat of summer. She'd always loved the sitting on the hill and overlooking the city as she ate. They weren't too far from downtown, but the area surrounding The Sunset Shrine was protected, all parks and hiking trails; holy land. So from her perch on the hilly mountain side she could see all of the modern life, have it if she wanted it, but it was separated from the peacefulness of her home.

It was while she was searching for the perfect spot that she spotted him. A young man with his hands over his eyes, sitting in the shade of an old tree. He looked completely normal in his trainers and sweatshirt sporting the 'Whirlwind Constructions' logo, so Kagome was hesitant about approaching him -as his body language clearly stated he didn't want company- but he looked like he was in pain, so the miko in her couldn't turn away from him.

Smoothing her hands slightly over her priestess garb nervously, Kagome approached, crouching down in front of him slightly to block the sun. "Sir? Are you alright?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder and causing him to jerk back in surprise.

"I'm fine, woman." He hissed, hands never leaving his eyes.

"You don't look fine," she retorted with a snort, looking him over. It was then she noticed the delicately pointed ears that were slightly obscured by his hair, and realized what was now so glaringly obvious. "You're a Youki aren't you? It's too bright out here."

At his non committal grunt of acknowledgement and bearing of his fangs at her, she went fishing in her bad for her sunglasses, forcing his hands away from his eyes that where screwed shut to force them onto his face.

"There. Next time just come back to the shrine and not act like such a jerk when someone's trying to help you; all demons know it's The Sunset Shrine's policy to help and provide sanctuary for all Youki in need." And with that she walked away with her bento box having decided it was too much of an effort to trying and be social and leaving the demon to mope in peace.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thatch**

Lunch break long over, Kagome was standing precariously on a ladder trying to repair the thatching of the storage building's roof without falling when a voice from below her caused almost that; she wobbled for a moment after jumping in shock, grasping at the straw to try and steady herself.

"Hey, I asked if you needed any help up there; you look to be doing a pretty piss poor job of fixing that hole."

Heart beating wildly with the after effects of that little burst of adrenaline, she turned sharply to glare down at the man who'd spoke, and was shocked to find that it was the same man from the park. He was looking up at her from though his long black bangs, hands on his jean clad hips and still wearing her hot pink sunglasses.

"Excuse me?" she hissed. "I can do my job just fine, _thank you_." And with that she turned back to her work, futilely pulling at the thick straw to try and readjust it.

It was then that the ladder moved. Squeaking and looking down in fear, she realized it was the man, and he was climbing _up_. "Hey! Get down! There's not enough room for the both of us up here!"

"Shut up." He muttered gruffly as he same to stand on the rung just below hers, pinning her to the metal bodily. She was too busy trying to get as far away from the immediate feel of his warmth pressing into her to realize that he was actually _helping_ ; repositioning the thatching without a thought and lifting the heavy bundles with an effortless ease.

She couldn't help but stare at his clawed hand as he did in moments what had taken her hours. Long fingered, masculine, and impossibly tan; he was elegant in his movements, yet somehow unrefined. Something barely restrained and expectant about his movements.

"We're even now. I don't owe you shit."


	3. Chapter 3

**Magic**

Whatever magic she'd felt watching him work was broken the moment he opened his mouth. "You didn't owe me anything to _begin_ with, jerk. Though if you ever manage to get yourself a real set of sunglasses I'd like _those_ back; hot pink looks better on me than you." She snipped, seriously considering pushing him from the rung he was perched on, regardless of the eight feet of difference between them and the ground.

She could see his glaring at her though the darkly tinted lenses, corded arms tightening their grip on the ladder on either side of her, fangs bared and breathing harsh for a long moment before quickly making his way back down to the ground and stomping off; hands stuck into the pockets of his overly tight jeans and long black hair swaying behind him as he made his way out of site.

Kagome stood there for a moment trying to settle her breathing and her temper when she finally looked at the mangled bits of metal that was once the side rails of her ladder; two perfect impression of his clenched fist marring the once perfect steel.

Anger stole her words for a moment before she let out a sharp noise akin to a tea kettle going off. "That… that jerk owes me a new ladder!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Muddled_

Kagome propped her head in her hand as she looked at the muddled view from through the Gift Shop's window, the thick rain pelting the glass making it nearly impossible to see out.

She'd already reorganized the back room, restocked the shelves, swept, played with the shrine cat, ate her lunch… and it was only 10am. Quite frankly, she was bored out of her mind being confined to cashier for the day.

They hadn't had a single customer, yet her grandfather was insisting that the shrine's doors stay open regardless of the horrible storm raging around them. And she had nothing to do but stare blankly at the door and just hope _anyone_ was stupid enough to venture out in this weather so she'd have someone besides the cat to talk too.

Not long after, someone did. And it was the one person she really didn't want to see.

"You!" she pointed at the man accusingly when he walked through the door, shaking out his umbrella and propping it against the door. "You owe me a new ladder, Mr."

He merely glared at her, running clawing fingers though his damp hair absently to shake any remaining water out of the waist length locks. "I'm aware. That's why I'm here you shrew."

She glared at him in reply as he walked toward her, pulling her sunglasses out of his coat pocket and slipping them onto her forehead gently. "You should really have someone fix the road around the back of this place. I could smell the accumulation of wet material; you'll have a mud slide soon if someone doesn't clean it out."

Kagome couldn't even bring herself to react to the feeling of his fingertips ghosting over her face when he slipped the small bit of metal over her eyes. "The back road?" she asked dumbly.

He snorted in reply, flicking a lock of hair behind her ear and allowing his hand to linger for a second longer than necessary. "What? You thought I was going to carry your new ladder up all those steps?" a slight smile twisted up his face then and he then turned to leave. "I'll be back Monday."

"What? _Why_?"

He looked back at her for a moment as if she was an absurdly slow child, hand paused over the handle of his umbrella mid-movement. "To fix your road, idiot."


	5. Chapter 5

**Reward**

"Grandpa, wake up!" Kagome called to the old man who had fallen asleep across from her at the dinner table. "I'm trying to tell you something important."

"Yes dear?" he asked when he came awake with a start, causing her to sigh.

She hesitated for a moment, playing with her food before answering. "A man is coming by Monday to clear the shrine road." Her words came out a jumbled rush punctuated by her cringing into the silence.

Mrs. Higurashi put a hand to her mouth once the words settled in the air, setting her chopsticks down to stare at her daughter. "Kagome," she admonished. "You know we can't afford something as frivolous as that!"

"I didn't _ask_ him too. He _volunteered_ ; I'm not paying that jerk a dime." She defended.

The older woman blinked slowly for a moment, looking at her questioningly. "Wait, I'm afraid I don't understand, darling. Who is this?"

She threw her hands up in the air, her frustration spilling out into a rant that stunned her family into silence. "I don't know; some canine Youki whose name I don't even know! I let him borrow my sunglasses, he broke our ladder trying to repay me, came _back_ , in the _rain_ , to replace it, and then _informed_ me he'd be coming back to fix the road because he could smell a mudslide coming. And I don't know what he wants form me! He's acting like some sort of puppy looking for a reward; helping when I don't need him, doing me favors, and then calling me an idiot or a shrew at every turn! I swear he's the most insufferable man I've ever met!"

Her mother merely giggled after a moment, looking at her daughter with a knowing glint. "Maybe he's just trying to get your attention, darling. It wouldn't hurt to ask him what it is he wants."


	6. Chapter 6

**Beach**

As Kagome trudged through the muck around the back of the shrine, she mentally chanted about taking a nice beach vacation soon, where there was no such thing as mud; just nice, warm sand and beautiful shirtless men handing out fruity drinks with little colorful umbrellas in them.

It was right about then that one of her trainers got caught in a nice deep hole, making a disgustingly squishy noise when it engulfed her entire shoe. "Awe, come on! I've not been out here ten minutes and I've already got mud in my socks."

"That's what you get for not watching where you're going." A voice grumbled from somewhere overhead. "What're you doing back here anyway; I told you I was taking care of it."

"I came to help." She told the overhang sourly. "Demon or no, mom seems to think the work would go quicker with two sets of hands."

There was a moment of silence, before a darkly tanned hand came down from above her and lifted her by the back of her shirt, setting her down on her feet beside him and handing her a shovel.

"My trucks around the corner, you just shovel the mud off into the bed." This order came out more of a grunt while he leaned down to grab a spare shovel from somewhere in the cab below them.

Kagome stood there awkward and indignant for a moment, shifted her weight from foot to foot before the wet squelching feeling in her socks made her stop. "Mom also wants you to join us for dinner." She mumbled, turning slightly red when blue eyes fixed onto her own in surprise.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sweltering**

He was a quiet demon she discovered; only speaking to her again when he placed a hand over her own to stop her from shoveling anymore, for which she was thankful for the reprise in the sweltering heat.

"Beds full. Climb in the passenger's seat, we've got to go dump it; I'll take care of the shovels."

And with that he was picking her up and setting her back down on the road beneath the overhang without her ever even having asked for the help and disappearing around the back to latch the tailgate of his truck.

He found her again standing beside the passenger side door awkwardly. "What's the problem now?" he asked while sliding inside himself.

"I'll get your cab all muddy." She muttered, looking down at her mud caked shins.

He snorted in laughter as he leaned over the center console to flick open the door, gesturing her to climb in. "I hardly care, miss, wouldn't be the first time there's been mud on the floorboards. Get in."

She stared at him like he'd grown a second head for a moment before doing as he said. "My names Kagome." She told him softly as they took off down the road. "I just realized I'd never introduced myself; it was rude of me."

He turned to look at her slightly out of the corner of his eye, a lopsided smile curling its way up his face. "And here I thought I was going to have to call you 'shrew' for the rest of the day. I'm Kouga. Nice to finally make your acquaintance, miss. "


	8. Chapter 8

**Rain**

"The rain really tore your road up; you'll need to invest in graveling that thing, or you'll have to have someone come out like this after almost every big storm." He stated idly as he took them through town, maneuvering the large truck though the suburban streets with ease.

"The Sunset Shrine is small; our donations wouldn't cover a fraction of what it would take to gravel the road." She then noticed that he was turning down a dirt road rather than staying in town and voiced her curiosity. "Where are we?" she asked when they pulled up to what looked to be a large construction area.

"My place of business; Whirlwind Construction." He answered gruffly, putting the truck in park beside a large mound of dirt.

He then gestured for her to get out and follow him around the side of the truck where he in turn called out to a bunch of men who were chatting beside a trailer-like building. "Boys! Unload all this." He pointed the large mountain of mud they had brought with them. "And make it fast."

"Yes Boss!" They called out, each dropping what they were doing to sprint over, the men bowing slightly to her as they passed, large smiles plastered to their faces. Kagome smiled and nodded in acknowledgement, seeming to brighten the men's day further.

Kouga toed off his muddy boots when they entered and she did the same, though it made no difference with it caked all the way up to her knees.

"So tell me, Kagome," he started, walking toward the small fridge beside the coffee maker. "You like meat buns or fried fish?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Sweat**

"There's no second chair in here; it's just the snack room. You can hop up on the desk though; I wouldn't mind having a pretty girl sitting on my papers." He told her as he collapsed into the beat up spinning chair, propping his bared feet up on the desk beside her, and she set her plate of meat buns on his shins.

It was then that she absurdly realized he didn't have toenails, he had toe-claws. The revelation made her giggle softly for some reason, and made what she was about to say that much easier. "Thanks for lunch, and… for clearing the road. It's really considerate of you; we wouldn't have been able to afford to bring someone out to do it."

He grunted in reply around his fish, nodding. "'s not a problem; couldn't in good conscience _not_."

Kagome turned down to her food, refusing to meet his eye, which made him smile. "You know, you're not always a complete jerk that grumbles at people and ruins their stuff, surprisingly enough."

He looked up at her curiously, one brow arched. "And you can, on occasion, not act like a shrew when people are trying to help you."

She jabbed him in the leg with a finger. "To my defense, I was trying to help _you_ first, and _you_ acted like an ass."

"And in my own defense, I'd just had my eyes dilated and couldn't see anything. Now come on, Ginta and Hakkaku should be done unloading that muck; we hurry and we could finish this job today. I'd hate to disrupt you from molesting helpless park goers for another day."


	10. Chapter 10

**Atmosphere**

The atmosphere between them was much more relaxed after that exchange, Kouga having sensed some sort of change in their dynamic that had him trading playful barbs and light, flirtatious touches.

Kagome, on her end, was more than a little confused at his constant smirk all thought dinner with her family, winning over her mother with ease, and invoking her brother's hero worship of Youki. Even her grandpa seemed to be taken with him.

"My family seems to like you." She mentioned as they reclined against the side of his truck in the front yard, watching the moon as he prepared to leave.

"Yes they do." He replied, his now ever-present smirk gaining another notch.

"And what have you been so smug about all day?"

He levered himself off the truck to stand in front of her, hands resting on the steel of his door on either side of her. "How easily you accepted my suit. I feel like quite the ladies man; does wonders for the ego."

Warning bells started going off in Kagome's head at that admission. "Your _suit_? What do you mean 'suit'?" she asked warily.

The smirk then became a full, fang baring smile as he came forward to nuzzle at her throat, and she was too shocked to push him away. "You approached me first, offering a gift, and clearly stated you wanted me to return it, _initiating_ this game of ours. You accepted my might, my touch, my help, _my kill_. You allowed me to protect you and you pack, and I garnered their acceptance. You allowed my courtship and named yourself mine in less than a week."

"I did none of those things!" she stuttered in outrage, pushing at him to see his face, and he relented to her frantic touches easily, allowing her to put space between them.

"Oh, did you now? Allow me to refresh your memory then." He laughed at her expression: Wary but reluctantly curious. "You gave me the glasses, clearly stating that 'if I ever managed to get myself a real set of sunglasses you'd like those back'. You told me you wished for my return." When she sputtered, he held up a hand for her silence.

"I displayed my power on the ladder and you merely watched me with a fixation that does wonders for the ego love, and I promise I can hold your attention just as well with other activities."

At the sharp whistling sound she admitted, cheeks heating in outrage, here merely laughed and continued on. "You allowed me to help you fix the roof of the shrine, thereby reassuring me of your knowledge of just what you where getting into."

" _I had no such knowledge, mister_." She hissed, and he refused to pause in his explanation, headless of her interruption.

"I placed the glasses on your face, and even touched your hair a second time to be sure you where receptive to my physical touch, and you accepted."

"I just thought you where being a pervert!"

He tapped her nose softly, smiling indulgently down at her. "You ate food I prepared, allowing me to provide for you; I having caught both the rabbit in the meat buns, and the fish -so really you were screwed on that one regardless."

"You sneaky little _ass_! You _planned_ this."

He let out a chortle at that, mostly because she sounded more awed than angry at the revelation. "Why yes I did, and I'm not done. You allowed me to protect you and your pack by clearing the road, helping me even, seeking out my companionship even though you clearly stated that you knew I could do it on my own. And your family likes me; they accepted me as a suitor."

When she just stared at him in shock, he placed a chaste kiss to her brow. "You gave me the right to claim you, and I have already presented you to my pack, to which _they_ accepted _you_ in return."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. When did _that_ happen?"

"Ginta and Hakkaku at the construction field. They bowed to you when they passed, thereby acknowledging my choice. Just accept it, Kagome, you're mine, and it took me less than four day to pull it off."

" _Absolutely_ not! I'm not a possession to be claimed, mister."

"Oh hush now; it's not as if I'm to steal you from your bed or some such; I'll court you in human fashion if I must, but know I already have the right to claim you; I'm merely continuing with the charade so that I might _win_ you." With that his next kiss fell to her lips and it was merely a pressing of his to her own, as chaste as the one he had placed to her forehead. And while she stood there dumbfounded, he walked around to the driver's side of his truck to leave.

"I'll be back tomorrow." He promised her though the open window.

"Tomorrow?" she asked weakly, fingers pressed against her lips in a mockery of the previous caress.

"I'm courting you like a proper human remember? It was my assumption that humans took their intended out so that they might prove their worth in other ways." At the scathing look she shot him he continued. "I'm not asking you to mate me, shrew, I'm merely asking for a chance to show you why I would be worthy of your affections. Think about it."

And on that poignant note, the engine roared to life and he took off into the darkness.


End file.
